thread on the taíno bc our culture has been dying for centuries /srs (sources will be linked at the end)

this will be needing tws so i'll tag as i go! pls be careful reading this thread bc there are very common triggers here (but dw, i got u i'll make sure to tag!)

first off, the taíno are native americans from the caribbean region. this includes but is not limited to: puerto rico, cuba, the island of hispanola (which contains modern day haiti and dominican republic)

a map!

// genocide mention
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sadly nobody is fully taíno anymore because of a genocide due to christopher columbus, (who i will be referring to as chris culo bc he deserves 0 respect) which i will be getting into soon

before chris culo, the taíno population reached an estimated amount of 3m on hispanola alone. the taíno population was pretty big before he came around.

before chris culo as well, the taíno invented and discovered many things, which include and are not limited to: large canoes, tobacco, cotton fishing nets. [gold] jewelry like nose rings and necklaces and pottery were also made by the taíno.

this is also really interesting!

taínos were also extremely advanced in agriculture.

taíno families were also HUGE because most men had 1+ wives, so about 10-15 people would be living in each household. the caciques btw were chiefs, so they had a high social status!

now im going to be diving into the graphic content that includes: genocide, rape, and things like that. i'll tag as i go along but pls be careful while reading.

once chris culo came, the taíno population was wiped quickly. it's common knowledge that he saw them as savages and uncivilized, but they were just living life differently.

// rape
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many taínos were wiped out due to disease or dying to hard labor. it's also said that about 40% of spanish men took taíno wives but it's said there could be more. (i personally don't fall for that 40% bs, there were definitely more) the women were also raped.

// graphic death + more rape + torture
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[censoring the picture because it's pretty graphic]
they took advantage of their kindness, and started a mass genocide against them.

// death + rape
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no full blooded taínos remain to this day. many taíno women were raped by spanish men and had children, or they were simply killed off by diseases like smallpox or through brutal murder. nobody is more than half taíno, they were all killed off.

however, some people (like me) are trying to preserve the culture because we do have taíno blood, so we don't want it to be forgotten. at the end of the day, i think i speak for all native americans when i say fuck chris culo and what he did to our ancestors.

sources:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/what-became-of-the-taino-73824867/

https://tainomuseum.org/ 

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Taino 

[BIG TW FOR THIS SOURCE]
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/the-taino-genocide/

also if u wanna support a puerto rican taíno-european disabled enby lesbian tryna support her family, my etsy is in my bio